updated 05:00 pm EDT, Tue August 16, 2011

Win 8 at Build to be developer preview, not beta

The expected Windows 8 release due for distribution at the sold out Build conference next month may just be a developer preview, China's PCBetafound. The build is dubbed 8064 and was created on August 6, and the included screenshot indicates this is indeed a developer preview. Microsoft Windows Division president Steven Sinofsky promised a pre-release version is due in the coming months.

The new evidence hints that the software will not be the expected beta build of the future OS. If precedent is anything to go by, this will be the case, as a developer preview of Windows 7 was shown at PDC in 2008 before a public beta at CES at the start of 2009. CES 2012 would see the beta of Windows 8 then. The final version should bow out in mid-2012. [viaWinRumors]